The Kiss
by Louisa Storey
Summary: Tracy and Link after that fateful kiss on The Corny Collin's show mostly Trink some Penweed my first attempt at a Hairspray fic
1. Chapter 1

This wasn't just a kiss, it was _**the**_ kiss. It was the kiss that changed everything, his friends, is reputation, his life but there was something amazing about it all. Link didn't care who was looking, it was his and Tracy's time. Her lips felt like velvet and he didn't want this to end. He knew that it was the start of something real. He felt her slowly pulling away and he gazed into those big beautiful brown eyes. Tracy was smiling warmly up at him and there eyes had locked then he saw her face fall. He couldn't understand what was wrong. She grabbed his hand and ran off the stage away from all the leering eyes.

"We … we just kissed on live television" she stammered and swallowing hard trying to grasp what had just happened. He smiled could she get anymore cuter?

"We sure did," and he pulled her closer to him "and it's not going to be the last one" he said charmingly and he could still feel a tingling on his lips from when they kissed. She looked gorgeous in her white and black dress and her hair looked so long and silky, she was just so perfect. He leaned in for another kiss when he felt a sharp tug on his jacket, he whisked around and he saw Amber standing there pouting huffily and her hands were sitting on her hips.

" L..Link Larkin we are over!" she squealed and he felt her cold small hand slap him across his face. His cheek was stinging like crazy and it was probably bright red too. Though showing no pain he said seriously and quite coolly "Amber we were over before we even started."

"AHHHH!" she screamed and stormed off, her high heels clicking on the cold hard floor. He turned back round to Tracy instantly and her brown eyes were glistening.

"Sorry you had to see that Lil' Darlin" he said apologetically.

"I was more worried about you, that was one heck of a slap. Here this might help." She said and she stroked his cheek gently and then planted a kiss on it. His heart started pumping really fast and he felt butterflies fluttering in his stomach. Then they spotted Velma Von Tussell Being dragged out by two security guards screaming "No I… I belong here it's my job it's that chubby communist girls fault!" pointing at Tracy. Link and Tracy started laughing. He trailed his finger through her soft hair and she smiled up at him. "Now where were we before we were so rudely interrupted" he grinned and leaned in to kiss her.

Tracy sat at her dresser, her name was hanging above the mirror and there was a huge vase of flower sitting on it from one of her fans. She had to say that again to because it was so hard to believe, _her fans. _She picked out a big rosy coloured flower and started to twirl it around her fingers. She caught glance of herself in the mirror and for once in her life she felt pretty and it was all because of Link. How did she Tracy Turnblad end up with this happily ever after? All her dreams had come true, she was dancing on the Corny Collin's show, it had become integrated and Link had kissed her. Everything was just so perfect. She looked at the flower again and started to pluck the petals off it.

"_He loves me …_

_He loves me not…_

_He loves …"_

Tracy went silent when she felt the gentle warm hands cover her eyes. "Guess who" said the familiar charming voice. She felt her heart flutter. "Hmm let me guess Corny? Brad? Seaweed?" she said teasing lightly.

"Lil' Darlin' you've forgotten me already?" Link said and spun her chair around so she was facing him.

"Not a chance" she whispered into his ear and kissed him tenderly on the lips and then it deepened and she savoured every moment of it. She didn't want to break away and his kiss made her feel weak but there was this annoying voice nagging her. Finally she found the strength to pull away.

"W…we should get back out there" She said dreamily still recovering from the kiss.

"Ugh, just two more minutes, they're hardly going to miss us that much" he pleaded and leaned back in for another kiss but she put her finger on his lip but he opened his mouth and sucked it.

"Eww your gross" she said taunting him and wiping his salvia on his jacket.

"Yeah and your one to complain about my salvia" he said laughing

"Oh come on" she said linking hands with him and walked back out to the stage. There were cheers being let out everywhere and the celebrations were in full swing. Link stood still for one moment "Did I mention you look beautiful" he said softly, gazing deep into her eyes. Tracy felt her cheeks instantly warm.

"Come on you we are going to miss the party." She said secretly loving every moment of it. How did she end up with this amazing guy? She felt she was in a dream and she never wanted to wake up. Once they went onto the stage she felt all eyes fall on her and suddenly felt quite self conciseness which really wasn't like her.

"Trace," whispered Link tearing her from her thoughts, "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, everything's amazing" she said confidently and he grinned at her

"Now come on lets dance" and he pulled her to where everyone else was dancing.

The mood changed as the song changed to a slow song and Link pulled Tracy close to him and she rested her head on his shoulder. She'd waited for this moment for 3 years but she had never imagined it would be feel this good. The song ended and the music stopped altogether but they still didn't let go of each other.

"Sorry folks that's all for tonight but thanks for coming" Corny said cheesily and then grinned down at Tracy and Link. He'd always had a soft spot for both of them.

"Tracy!" squealed Penny from behind them, Link wanted to plug his ears from the noise of their high pitched screaming but he just laughed instead.

"Cracker boy!" said Seaweed his grin stretched out on his face.

"I see the girls are having a good gossip about us" he laughed

"Us?" gulped Link, he knew that's what girls did but he wasn't really used to being told about it.

"No, about the shade of lipstick they are wearing," he said sarcastically, "Of course about us and I thought you were the expert when it came to girls." He said jokingly.

"Yeah well I don't know everything yet." He said and he looked over at the two of them talking and giggling. They were truly best friends and they would never say a bad word about each other unlike Amber , once any of her "friends" had their back turned she would be saying all sort of comments about them.

Tracy came skipping back over towards him.

"Link I've really got to go now" the lights were starting to be switched off and the crowds were disappearing out the doors.

"You sure you don't want a ride home with me babe?" Link said looking adoringly at her.

"I want to but I really should… you know explain to mum and dad about everything"

"I understand" and he kissed her on the lips even though he felt disappointment surging at the bottom of his stomach.

"I'll see you later" and he winked at her. He watched Tracy skip off happily. This must have been the best day of his life.


	2. Chapter 2

Link walked into his house and threw his keys onto the coffee table which was cluttered by empty beer bottles. He smelt the familiar stench of whiskey and cigars. His drunken father was lying on the couch snoring extremely loudly. He and his father had used to get along so well up until his mother died, she had always seemed to make things alright but now with her gone all that his father did was drink he was surprised they got any money from when he goes to work. After work he'd always go down to the bar and drink himself stupid. He never seemed to be sober anymore. His night had been so perfect but he hated coming home to this. No one knew about his father, he didn't want anyone to know because he was too ashamed but to tell you the truth no one really cared they all expected him to be perfect boy Link with no troubles at all, he was quite the opposite. Though tonight he was too happy to care, to dwell into things because all he could think about was sweet, kind and caring Tracy. She was like his mother she made everything better and she did care about him. He walked into his room and collapsed on his bed in sheer tiredness. He stared out his window at the twinkling stars. Just like Tracy.

"BBBRRRIINNNNNGGGG BBBRRRIINNNNNGGGG" SOUNDED Link's alarm. He rubbed his eyes roughly.

"Damn it's 7 o'clock already" he muttered to himself.

He ran around getting ready, desperately trying not to wake his father, he couldn't be bothered to listen to his complainants about a sore head and feeling tired. He started to fix his hair trying to make his signature curl sit right. He sprayed his hair with ultra clutch hairspray and sprayed a bit of cologne on himself just for Tracy of course. Grabbing his school bag he ran out to his car and he spotted this big beautiful yellow flower growing in his garden, he pulled it out of the ground gently and jumped into his car. Speeding up to Tracy's house he squirmed nervously in his seat.

Was she already gone? What if she didn't want a ride from him? Also what …

All of Link's nervous thoughts drained out of him when he heard that sweet familiar voice singing softly. She'd left her hair down so it was just hanging round her shoulders and she was glowing. There was something about the way she walked, like she was dancing to the song in her head and her hips moved smoothly side to side. Link beeped his horn and once she saw him her face burst into smiles.

"Link Larkin what on earth are you doing outside my house for?" she said teasingly

"Well I was thinking that you might need an escort to school" he said cheesily and winked at her.

"Okay, if I have to" she sighed jokingly and she hopped into the passenger seat. There was something about those eyes they were so pure no sense of malice or coldness in them just pure warmth and kindness. Then he leaned in and kissed her passionately, he was finding it hard to break away as he could have stayed forever, just him and her. Eventually hey both pulled away from lack of oxygen though their foreheads were still in contact.

"Wow" she muttered, gasping for air.

"I…I know" was the only thing that he could manage to say.

He sat up straight and cleared his throat, his heart was racing and he felt unbelievable, like joy was rushing round his veins. He'd never ever felt like this with Amber she was controlling he never felt like himself. She was so clingy and she didn't even try to understand him to her he was just an image to make her more popular. Tracy didn't use him for anything she actually did like him for him and not for whatever an icon he was.

"Link?" she whispered

"Yeah babe?" he said coolly trying not to give away what he'd been think even though he desperately wanted to tell her. She'd probably run a mile.

"School?" she said not even showing a hint of impatience.

"Oh yeah sorry" he stumbled.

When they were driving to school there were so many thoughts running through his head. Why hadn't he noticed her before? His ignorance and vanity had blinded him from ever even noticing someone like her, someone sweet, kind and generous, who had really changed him for good. The old him wouldn't have looked her way, he wouldn't have even talked to Seaweed or stood up for anything that was right. The old him was a coward hiding away in his popularity. When he first saw Tracy in detention that day dancing she stood out to him she was doing her own thing not caring what anyone else thought of her and when she saw she had an audience she was so embarrassed and he chuckled inside himself remembering the expression on her face when she noticed him standing there watching. Now she was sitting beside him in his car, his girlfriend. Wait a minute; he'd been so busy thinking about these things that he hadn't noticed that neither of them had talked for five minutes. Okay he really need to break the ice some how. Then it hit him, the flower. Parking the car in a space outside the school he pulled the flower out of his pocket and held it in front of her.

Tracy beamed "Link, that's so sweet"

"Anything for my girl" he said giving her a wink.

He saw a blush rising on her cheek and she looked so adorable. He couldn't wait any longer he just had to kiss her again. Once their lips touched he felt his heart melt. Everything was just so perfect wait a minute is that ….

Amber had seen it all from the flower to the kiss. She felt like she was going to puke, her mother had told her to hold her head up high but come on that was her man in that great big white whale's arm and she had stolen him from her. She saw Link look up and he was grinning like an idiot. Though she was the one feeling like an idiot, how could this happen to her, she was Amber Von Tussell the prettiest girl in the school and she was Tracy Turnblad the chubby girl who no one cared about. She noticed Link had spotted her and his smile had dropped. She glared daggers at him, that will teach him for messing with her and she stormed off into the school.

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Link and Tracy walked nervously together into the school. People all around them were staring though Link noticed that there stares were mostly directed at Tracy. Well of course it was at her, she looked stunning. Then he heard some of the boys checking her out and whistling and she actually looked slightly scared. He put his arm round her protectively and she smiled up at him.

"Here's my locker, so I'll see you at lunchtime?" said Tracy.

"Okay I'll see you later babe" and he kissed her on the cheek.

He walked over to his locker and then he heard two boys who were standing near him start to talk about Tracy.

"Did you see that doll Tracy today, she looked mighty fine."

"Yeah and did you see the size of her things, I liked to get some of them, I bet that's the only reason Larkin is going out with her and also because he wasn't getting much action out of Amber." And they both started to laugh. Link felt his blood start to boil, how dare they talk about her and him like that. He slammed his locker door shut and their laughter immediately stopped. He was starting to lose control of his anger.

"So you think you funny, well you won't be laughing if you jerks say anything else like that!" He yelled. One of the boys backed away but the other stood face to face with Link.

"Oh, I'm so scared what are you going to dance us away!" and they both started to laugh.

He was about to lose it when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Leave them dude, they're not worth it" said Seaweed calmly.

"Yeah Larkin, listen to your dog and go running back to your big breasted girlfriend"

Link couldn't control his anger anymore and he punched him in the face. The boy fell down in pain, blood gushing out of his nose. Then the other boy punched Link in the eye and the pain was merciless. Seaweed then pushed the boys off and they ran off. Everyone had stopped dead in the corridor and had witnessed the fight. Though unluckily for Link and Seaweed, Mr. Brown had saw Link punch him and that was about it.

"Larkin! Stubbs! Detention!" he yelled.

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They walked in and the usual music was playing but everyone stopped dancing when they saw Link and Seaweed walk in. Link had his hand over eye and the pain was killing him.

"Link?" he looked over and saw Tracy standing there. She looked shocked and she ran over and hugged him.

"Someone grab me a bag of ice!" she shouted and she gestured for him to sit down while someone ran out to grab some ice.

"Take your hand away" she whispered and he removed his hand from his eye.

She gasped. And she kissed his cheek gently.

The skin around his eye was red and swollen and it was sore to move that side of his face. The person came running back in with the bag of ice and handed it to Tracy. Seaweed told people to back off and then the conversations started again.

"This might hurt a little" she said and dabbed his face with the ice.

Link clenched his fist as it stung quite badly.

"Hold this up at your eye" she said quietly

The coldness numbed it so it didn't hurt as much. He knew he couldn't stay silent for much longer but he really didn't want to tell her because he didn't want to hurt her.

"What happened?" she said and she griped his hand. He was just going to have to tell her, he couldn't lie to her.

"It was these jerks, they were saying stuff about you and I couldn't stand it and I lost it, but they wouldn't stop I hit him and he hit me back." Link stared down at his feet waiting for a reaction from Tracy. He felt her hand lift his face up and she kissed him tenderly on the lips.

"Wh…what was that for? He said confused.

"For being the best boyfriend ever" she smiled.

He sat the ice bag down and wrapped his arm around her waist and kissed her gently on the forehead.

"What are you here for?" he asked

Her cheeks started to turn pink "Well I was asked in history why did Christopher Columbus go to America and I said," she hesitated a bit, "I said Link"

He laughed and he noticed that she was slightly embarrassed.

"Lil' darlin' I'm the reason for a lot of things" and he winked.

"And just when I thought your ego couldn't get any bigger" she said teasingly and lightly slapped his arm. Then he kissed her gently again.

"Everything good Cracker boy except for that big shiner you have" joked Seaweed

"Yeah everything is great," he said dreamily "Wait a minute I've got a what!"

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_Hi everyone thank for all your reviews they really keep me motivated to keep going. I'm sorry about the odd typing mistake but you get my drift … usually lol_

_Well this chapter was really long because if I split it in 2 then it would be too short so I went for long instead :D_

_I can't believe how many hits I've got already and it has only been up for a day. Anyway I had this posted this chapter so quickly because I already had it wrote and I had no homework so the rest might not get up as quickly but I'll try my best _

_Please keep reviewing xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx_


	3. Chapter 3

"Link it's not that bad, so will you just come out" said Tracy patiently. Link was hiding in one of the Corny Collins show's dressing rooms with the door firmly shut.

"Please for me" she said sweetly.

Link reluctantly opened the door and poked his head out. Just at that moment Penny went skipping by. She stopped suddenly and gasped loudly.

"Oh my gosh Link! What happened your face its all purple!" she said genuinely surprised.

"Penny!" snapped Tracy and Link was about to close the door again when Tracy slipped her foot in between it so he couldn't shut it. She pushed the door open and pulled Link out. He reluctantly walked out and he wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Link if it was that bad I'd have probably ran a mile now, screaming help but yet I'm still standing here."

Link smiled at Tracy's attempt to cheer him up.

He felt really self conscious but Tracy held his hand and they walked back out to everyone else. Everyone was staring at him but Tracy pulled him forwards to Seaweed and Little Inez.

"You see that wasn't that bad." she whispered but she had spoken too soon.

Amber came gallivanting over to them and ran up to Link and hugged him. Link squirmed but she had a tight grip around him.

"Oh my darling Link what on earth did she do to you?" she said sickeningly sweet.

"Amber will you get off me, it obviously wasn't Tracy so will you just go away" he said and pushed her away. The only person he wanted to hold him was Tracy. Amber scowled at him for being rejected. He knew she wasn't used to it but she was just getting to the height of annoyance now. She wiped herself down like Link was dirty or something just to get on his nerve but he ignored her petty attempt to annoy him. She stood there glaring at Tracy like she was about to hit her so Link moved in closer to Tracy protecting her.

"Oh right, Linkie was it your father?" She whispered menacingly just so Tracy could hear her, knowing too well that he hadn't told her about him yet. Amber took a step back cautiously and grinned she knew she had hit him in a soft spot. Her eyes had filled up with malice and she slid her hand up and down his arm. He could see from the corner of his eye Tracy was starting to get bothered.

"Amber I told you to go away!" he growled, completely furious at her. She always had to destroy everything. Amber stomped off but he knew she had got so much satisfaction from saying that. She was cold hearted and she liked to see him in pain. He couldn't face Tracy. He knew what her expression on her face would be and those eyes, he didn't want to think about it. He'd rather have told her at a better time, he didn't want her to find out this way and it was ruining all his plans.

"Link, what did she mean when she said was it your father?" she said innocently.

"Look Trace it doesn't matter right now okay!" he snapped at her. He felt a huge pile of guilt fall on top of him, he'd been so angry with Amber and he really didn't want to get into things right at that moment but it still didn't justify snapping at Tracy like that. She was staring down at her feet and was about to walk off when he caught her arm.

"Look babe I'm sorry for snapping at you, it's just I don't want to get into things right now" He glanced down at her face she looked, disappointed. He felt like a complete and utter jerk.

"It's okay" she said quietly but he knew it certainly wasn't okay, right he had to do it now because there certainly wasn't going to be a better moment later on if he just left things the way they are.

"Hey Trace," he whispered into her ear, "follow me."

Tracy looked up at him suspiciously not having an idea what was going on.

"Why?" but he didn't reply to her and just guided her down to an empty part of the studio.

"Link what's going on?" she said confused.

Then once no one else was insight, then he pulled his class ring out of his pocket and slipped it delicately onto Tracy's finger.

"Will you be my girl?" he asked sweetly, praying she would say yes.

"Oh Link!" she said happily and she hugged him. "Of course!"

Link kissed her neck gently and then it led up to her mouth and they kissed passionately. He was starting to get lost in the moment when they heard someone cough loudly, Tracy bounced back in surprise. Standing in front of them was a tall, heavy man. His brow was furrowed and he had a scowl on his face. He was very strong looking.

"Emm … hi I'm Tracy" she said quite friendly and held out her hand to shake but he stared at it like it was filth or something. How dare he treat her like that! She was only trying to be polite. Link felt the anger rising in him.

"Who are you" Link said with a sharp tone to his voice.

"Well young man I'd think you should be a little more polite to your new station manger.

Link's jaw fell open and he felt his heart sink right to the ground. Why did they always end up with jerks as their station managers.

He smirked when he saw the look on their faces. "I'm Mr. Cannon and I think you two should be practicing your dancing instead of smooching down here." He said cheekily and then cockily laughed at his own sarcastic remark.

"Hopefully the next time we meet your tongues won't be down each others throat" he said and started to laugh again.

He was about to walk off when he added his last comment "Oh and you boy what's your name?"

"Link Larkin" he said glaring at him.

"Well I don't think you should be on camera today because you would set a bad example to our younger audience" he smirked and then walked off. Tracy and Link stood silently watching Mr. Cannon walk off, just what they needed another nasty station manger.

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Link was sitting in the chairs which had been used in the miss hairspray pageant watching the show. He could see Tracy was really not enjoying herself and she had that fake smile plastered over her face, it wasn't that usual one that made him light up inside when he saw it. First of all Mr. Cannon hadn't let Link dance because of his black eye and from the sideline Link could see something wasn't right.

Mr Cannon had split up the dancers into two groups white and black. Link was furious when he saw Lil' Inez be pushed away by one of the white girls.

It wasn't fair she was one of the best dancers by far and yet she had been shoved out of the limelight. The black kids were fighting to be seen as the cameras had focused on the white kids. Also Tracy was stuck at the back of everyone she was just part of the crowd not even being recognised for her amazing dancing. Though of course stuck at the front was Amber, Tammy and Brad. This wasn't what the Corny Collin's Show should be about; it should be about equality, not about different colours of skin or what size people are. Mr. Cannon's excuse was that they had to "ease" the public into the whole idea of integration but Link knew he was just as racist as Mrs Von Tussle was. He noticed Maybelle was standing watching all of this and she was taping her foot impatiently. The show ended and Tracy walked instantly over to Link. She sat down beside him and rested her head on his shoulder. He stroked her hair gently it was so soft. He kissed her head gently,

"Do you want to go babe?"

"Yeah, that would be great" she said catching her breath back.

The two of them walked out leaving the Corny Collin's Show behind them for another day, though for once in Links life he wasn't entirely looking forward in coming back.

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_Hey everyone thanks for all the reviews, I'm going to start on chap. 4 this weekend so hopefully will have it up soon. Thanks for all the reviews they are really motivating me. I know this wasn't my best chapter but I'll try and get a bit more drama in _

_Please keep reviewing xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx_


	4. Chapter 4

Tracy sat in her bedroom looking at herself in her vanity mirror. She was fixing her hair to sit like it was on the miss hairspray pageant. She applied some mascara to her eyelashes and a bit of her favourite lipstick. She wanted tonight to be as special as the pageant was. Though she was still really stuck about what she was going to wear. Link had told her to dress fancy but to tell you the truth she didn't have anything that fancy. Then the idea popped into her head. She scurried down into her mother's closet. There was a box of her old clothes she wore when she was younger and a bit slimmer. She threw clothes out trying to find something to wear. There were old jackets and skirts, all of course quite old fashioned but still nothing that would be suitable for tonight. Then she found at the bottom of the box a thin, long box and she pulled it out. It was slightly dusty and she opened it. There was a picture of her mother standing with her father and they looked so happy and her mother was wearing this beautiful dress. She lifted the photo out and there was the dress. It was so silky and smooth. She ran it through her hands and stood up and put it up to herself. It was red and flowing. It had small sleeves and went in at her waist line and then flowed out from there. It was just beautiful. She tried it on carefully and it sat perfectly on her, making her look a lot thinner and curvy in all the right places. Then her mother came in and gasped.

"Tracy, hon you look lovely."

"I'm sorry ma I was going to ask you, look if you don't want me to wear it I'll put it back" Tracy said politely, waiting to see what her mother would say.

Her mother lifted up the box and smiled. She then picked out of it a necklace and she put it round Tracy's neck.

"There you're all set."

Tracy hugged her mum. The necklace had a red sparkly ruby in it and it had just seemed to make the dress.

"Tracy you've got a guest!" Wilbur shouted from the kitchen.

"Well go on I'm sure Link won't want to wait all day" her mother said.

Tracy slipped on the red stilettos that were in the box on and of course they were a perfect fit and her mother gave her light tap.

"Go on!" she said impatiently.

Tracy bit her lip and walked down to her front door and Link was standing there wearing a tux talking nervously to her dad and he was holding a bunch of roses.

He turned round and saw her. His mouth practically dropped open.

He pulled at his collar and she was going to laugh as he looked at her.

"Uh hi Tr...Tracy" he stuttered and handed her the bouquet of roses.

"Thanks." she said smiling and put the roses in a vase. She linked hands with him and walked out the door, she knew this night was going to be amazing.

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Link was driving up the road but his eyes kept turning to Tracy.

"Link will you keep your eye on the road!" she shouted when he nearly went through a red light.

Link was really trying to focus but she was just so beautiful tonight. Of course he thought she was beautiful everyday but tonight she had just blown his mind. She was sitting in his passenger seat and he felt really nervous around her. He had felt nervous before but this was completely different.

"Link the road!" she squealed when he nearly drove onto the pavement.

Okay he really needed to focus, what was wrong with him? This was stupid, it was just Tracy, and she was his girlfriend, what was the problem?

He pulled over and cleared his throat "We're here" he said charmingly and tried to cover up his feelings at that moment. Tracy went to open her door when Link stopped her. "Oh no that's my job" she giggled when he winked at her. He grabbed a big black umbrella out of his back seat and ran to open her door. The rain was pouring down quite heavily. "Here you go." He said and she smiled that one hundred watt smile at him and it dazzled him. He knew that Tracy really didn't know what to expect because he still hadn't told her where or what he had planned for the date. He and Seaweed had been trying to figure out what to do for their girls for a special date then Seaweed had came up with a killer idea when they were in town.

"Link what's going on?" She said curiously looking at him but there was excitement in her eyes.

"Now what would be the point of a surprise if I told you what it was" he said laughing. He put his hand over her eyes.

"Right no peeking" he said and she giggled.

"Link Larkin you are a mystery"

He saw Seaweed standing at the entrance of the hall with Penny and his hands over her eyes. He walked over to him.

"Right you can look" Link said and the two boys removed their hands.

"Penny! Tracy!" the two girls squealed simultaneously.

Then they looked at their surroundings and saw the ballroom. There were couples dancing over the dance floor mostly teenagers like themselves and maybe some older couples. There was a huge disco ball hanging from the ceiling and everyone was very well dressed.

"It's…." Penny said

"….amazing." Tracy said finishing her sentence.

Link grabbed Tracy's hand and led her off to the dance floor. The music was slow and he twirled Tracy around and pulled her in close to him.

"Tracy you look amazing tonight" and he felt a blush rising on his face.

"Link Larkin, are you blushing?" she said teasingly

"Oh just rub it in while don't you." he said.

"Aw well you just look so cute" she said

"Uh no don't call me cute, I'm not ten" he said jokingly.

"Okay then what about charming, handsome?" and now she blushed slightly this time.

"That's better" he said smiling and gazed into her soft brown eyes.

"I need to go to ladies room hold on a second" she said and kissed him on the cheek. He watched her wander off and he walked over to talk to Seaweed.

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Tracy stood in front of the mirror and started to fix her hair. There were girls from the council wandering about and she had said hi to a couple of them. Then she heard Tammy and Shelly walking in talking.

"Have you saw Link tonight?" asked Shelly.

Tracy ran into one of the toilets and locked the door and listened to their conversation.

"Yes he was dancing with Tracy. I thought he would have said something to her by now, I mean read what he said." Tammy said quietly.

Shelly giggled and they both walked out. Tracy felt her heart plummet to the ground. What were they talking about? Once she knew that they were definitely gone she wandered out of the toilet and there sitting beside the sink was a crumpled up note. She stared at it for a moment and then she picked it up and read it:

_Dear Tammy_

_These past few days have been painful for me without you. I like Tracy, but I love you. We have a special connection and I just want to be with you. I was stupid to ever get involved with Tracy and I got myself in too deep,_ _but after tonight we can be together. I want tonight to be a good night for Tracy so the break-up won't be as hard for her. I'll tell her what and amazing night this has been but she isn't the girl for me. You are the girl for me._

_Until tomorrow your love,_

_Link xxxx_

Tracy dropped the note into her purse. It felt like someone had yanked her heart out of her chest. No, this couldn't be true, Link wasn't like that. Though how did she know? She'd only known him properly for a while. It was killing her, she loved him so much, and she couldn't handle this at the moment. She walked back out and saw Seaweed and Penny were standing hand in hand talking to Link. He was standing there laughing with them and she felt sick, how could he do this to her? Her eyes started to well up but wiping them she strode over to them. She saw that Penny had sensed something was wrong but Penny just gave her a weary look. Link smiled brightly at her and Tracy tried her best to smile back but she struggled. He grabbed her hand and started to dance slowly with her. Though in the corner of her eye she could see Tammy staring over at them. What was he playing at? How could he break her heart like this?

Link pulled her closer to him and he whispered into her ear, "This has been the most amazing night ever."

She felt sick; no he couldn't do it now not when they were dancing. She felt herself back off a bit and he looked at her curiously. Suddenly the lights went off; there were a few loud screams. Tracy couldn't see anything and she started to worry a bit and trying to grab for Seaweed, Penny or Link at least but she couldn't find any of them. There were people shuffling around her but no one she knew. She started to call out Link's name but she could barely be heard above the noise. Then the lights went back on and she felt relieved, that was until she saw Link and Tammy kissing. He pushed Tammy away and looked at Tracy but she had seen enough. She needed to get out of there and leave behind everything. So she ran.

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"Tammy! Get off me!" he shouted. She ran away giggling. What was going on?

Then Seaweed stormed over, "What the heck Larkin! What are you doing!" he yelled completely serious. Link had thought he had been kissing Tracy until the lights had come back on.

"I...I thought it was Tracy! Where is she?" he shouted really confused.

"She just ran, ran away." Penny shouted, crying. Link started to panic, he needed to find her and he didn't have a clue what was going on. He sprinted out of the hall; it was pouring with rain so he grabbed his black umbrella and ran after her. Tracy was out in that somewhere and he felt scared that she would get hurt. He looked a mess but he didn't care. Then he remembered that her house wasn't far from here so he ran in that direction. The roads were empty except for the odd car driving past. He didn't even bother putting the umbrella up as he was too worried about Tracy. He'd been running for over five minutes now. Then nearing Tracy's house he saw Tracy was just standing there.

"Tracy! Tracy!" he yelled and she just turned round. Sprinting up to her he put the umbrella up and held it above her head. She was shivering violently so he took his jacket off and attempted to wrap it around her but she just pushed it away. His legs were aching and he was taking sharp intakes of air.

"Trace" he said gasping for air and he tried holding her hand but she pulled away. Her eyes were all blotchy and her hair and clothes were dripping wet but she still looked amazing. They stared at each other for a moment then she spoke up.

"Link its, o.k. I understand I just wish you told me before." And she looked up at him about to start sobbing.

"Tracy, what are you talking about? I don't understand? I swear I don't know what Tammy was …"

She interrupted him " Li…Link stop making it hard for the both of us" and then she started to cry and ran off into her house.

Each tear that had landed on her soft cheek had felt like a dagger stabbing into his heart. The worst thing was she didn't let him explain. He stared up at the house. It was a good thing tears never show in the pouring rain and he felt his drip down his face. This was meant to be the best night of his life and it had turned into the worst.


	5. Chapter 5

Tracy lay in her bed staring at her ceiling. She had barely slept last night as she had just kept thinking about the whole Link situation. Her mother was so angry with her for ruining her dress but once she had saw how upset Tracy was, she forget about it. There was a cool breeze coming in from her window and the sun was starting to rise. It was nearly time to get up for school but she was dreading going near the place. She decided to get up earlier as she knew she wouldn't be able to go back to sleep. The posters of Link which were stuck around her room were watching her, she couldn't stand looking at them so in fury she ripped them all down and scattered them across the floor. She didn't know how she could cope seeing the real him never mind the stupid posters. Looking into those crystal blue eyes would probably be the hardest thing to do because they just made her melt every time. Today Tracy had decided she wanted to do something different with herself so she put on her favourite yellow dress and she curled her hair, not too tightly but enough so her hair bounced on her shoulders. She grabbed an apple and walked out her door. Though today Link wasn't sitting outside her house smiling and giving her that signature wink of his, she really missed it but she knew she had to move on. Usually when she walked to get the bus she sang to herself and waved at people she saw quite regularly but not today. Even though it was a beautiful day she felt like there was a rain cloud following her around. She actually managed to catch the bus today and as she stared out the window she wondered what Link was doing at that moment.

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Link sat in his car for 15 minutes now waiting for Tracy to come out of her house he knew that she had probably went on but deep down inside him he really wanted her to come out. He knew if he didn't go soon he'd be really late for school. Deciding to try one last time he walked up to her door and knocked it nervously. He heard thumping and then the door swung open and her mother standing there.

"Oh hello Link" she said looking at him funnily, she had obviously been told what had happened last night.

"Emm hello Mrs Turnblad is Tracy in?" he said politely.

"No sorry she went on to school," she smiled sympathetically at him, "Don't worry hon, she'll come around soon enough."

"Thanks Mrs Turnblad." And he smiled weakly at her and walked disappointed down to his car. There was something else that had happened. Tracy wouldn't ignore him just because a girl kissed him, it was so out of character for her she would usually listen to him.

When he started to walk into the big grey school everyone was staring at him, probably wondering why Tracy wasn't by his side or maybe word had spread about what happened last night. He walked up the corridor slowly, he missed having Tracy by his side and having someone to hold and her smell. He was getting close to her locker and then he saw her, she looked amazing, those curls in her hair and that dress just was so perfect. He remembered every word she said to him last night that she understood but the problem was he didn't understand what she was on. Penny came walking over to her and they were in deep conversation and the Penny pointed at Link. Tracy turned around and stared at him for a moment but then she ran off.

"No Trace!" he shouted but he was too late.

Penny ran over to him "Link, I found Tracy's purse at the dance and I found this in it. She pulled out a crumpled note from her pocket. Link read and now he understood why Tracy was avoiding him.

"You've got to be … I didn't write that, I never would" he felt so frustrated it was obvious Tammy had been up to something she had no interest in Link before and he certainly had no interest in her!

"I tried to tell Tracy that it was lies but Link if she thought you wrote that then…" Penny said quietly.

"Penny I really need to talk to her is there any chance you could fix something up?" he pleaded.

Penny thought hard for a second and she had a sad expression on her face,

"Link I'm sorry but Tracy she is quite stubborn and after reading this she probably won't want to go near you." Penny stared down at her feet. Link felt like his heart had been ripped in two, he liked Tracy too much, no he loved her too much to let her go. He was in love with Tracy Turnblad except the problem was Tracy Turnblad didn't know that.

He walked into history class Tracy was sitting in her usual seat and he took the seat next to her. She stiffened up and stared straight at the board not even glancing at Link. On the other hand Link was staring the whole time not even glancing at the board.

"Link Larkin will you look at the board instead of Tracy Turnblad please I don't think she has American history written all over her!" snarled their teacher. There were a few giggles and Tracy's cheeks turned bright pink and he thought he saw a smile at the corner of her mouth but it quickly disappeared. He longed to see her smile again, to touch her but she was certainly not up to any of that. A paper ball hit the back of Tracy's head and Link turned round in anger to see Tammy and Shelly giggling at the back of the classroom. Then in cheek Tammy winked at him copying his signature wink and he felt his blood start to boil. Why was she doing this? He leaned over to see the crumpled up note and it was a picture. There was an elephant labelled Tracy at one side of it with a sad face and the other side Link and Tammy smiling with a sign Corny Collin's show above them. It was sick, he stood up and violently pushed his chair back.

"Mr. Larkin if you don't think you can behave in an appropriate manner in my classroom then I'm going to have to ask you to report to detention." shouted the teacher.

"Detention it is" he said crossly. The teacher stood still stunned and then started to scribble on a pink detention slip. Link snatched the slip from the desk and before leaving he looked over at Tracy whose eyes were all watery and stared straight back at him sadly. With one last sigh he walked out of the classroom and headed for detention.

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Tracy fidgeted, she felt terrible for letting Link do that. She missed him so much but it was for the best. Though she'd have thought Tammy would have been a little discreet about her and Link but she seemed to be flaunting him at Tracy. Tracy had been really shocked that Link came running after her the night before. He must have wanted to make their break-up official but Tracy didn't want to hear the words so she just avoided him. She remembered what Penny had said that Tammy was just up to something and Link had nothing to do with her but Tracy said to her how did she know and Penny couldn't answer her. As Link was leaving for detention Tracy just stared into those perfect blue eyes of his though when the teacher had told him off from staring at her she felt a moment of joy and then it disappeared once she remembered why he was probably staring at her. She was really not looking forward to the Corny Collin's show today.

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Link ran out of detention once the bell rang and ran back to his history class.

Tracy was walking out of the door once he had got there.

"Tracy, please just listen, let me explain, I don't know what Tammy…" he pleaded.

"Link will you just leave me alone, I don't want to have anything to do with you anymore" she said quietly and sharply. That couldn't be Tracy talking she just wasn't like that. Then floods of tears came out of her eyes and she ran to the toilets. Those words pained him more than anything he'd ever felt in his life. The girl he loved with all his heart had just told him he didn't want to see him anymore. How was he going to cope without her? Yes, you may say he has done it before but he hadn't made a very good job of it. Then Tammy came waltzing out of the classroom smiling and laughing with Shelly.

"You!" he yelled and she jumped back in surprise, then gathering herself together she stood up straight and smiled falsely.

"Oh hi Linkie darling" and she kissed him on the cheek.

He pushed her off him like her kiss was poison.

"What is it Tammy? Are you jealous? What made you want to ruin what I had with Tracy?" he shouted.

"Linkie are you really that big headed to think I was jealous? If I wanted you, you would be mine," she said slyly, "let's just say I have alternative motives." And she walked off.

Link was seriously confused, what ever could she mean? Then he remembered that fatal conversation with Tracy, how she had sobbed. Did she still have any feelings for him at all?

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"Front step cha cha cha"

"Back step cha cha cha" shouted the new choreographer as they were dancing.

Tracy was dancing at the back of the group with I.Q. and Link had been paired up with Amber. Amber had changed a lot since his and her break-up and she actually seemed nicer. She had moved on to one of Seaweed's friend called Duane. The practicing ended and Seaweed walked over to Link.

"Link, Penny told me everything, are you okay?" Seaweed looked completely serious and for once didn't call him cracker boy.

"No, no Seaweed I'm terrible and I don't know what I am going to do" he whimpered.

"Don't worry Link I'm sure everything will work out ok." But Seaweed gave him an unsure look.

Then Amber came running over to them and she was gasping for air.

"Link! Seaweed! I need to talk to both of you in private now!" she said looking nervously around her. The two boys looked at each other neither of them knowing what was going on and followed Amber to one of the closets.

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_Hey thanks everyone for all the reviews and please keep reviewing. This must have been the most depressing Trink chapter to writes ever. I've also got a few surprises in store so keep reading xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx_


	6. Chapter 6

Tracy watched as Link and Seaweed scurried off with Amber. She felt so depressed, she missed Link so much. Some of the dancers were practising and others were getting a much deserved drink of water but Tracy just stood beside Lil' Inez who was talking away to everyone. After telling Link those lies outside of history he'd probably never want to talk to her again. Saying those words had killed her and they weren't even true, she wanted to see Link again but he didn't want her. That whole afternoon Tracy had spent in the toilets crying, once she pulled herself together school was over, that probably meant another two detentions but she didn't care. She loved Link with all her heart but he didn't love her back. All hope of them getting back together was gone. Remembering their first kiss was the hardest thing to do, she remembers how happy she felt after it but the kiss that he had shared with Tammy, that kiss destroyed everything between the two of them. Everything ruined because of one kiss. She felt a small tap on her shoulder and she whisked around. Mr. Cannon was standing beside her smirking, "Tracy I'd like a word with you in my office." And she followed him off to his office.

"Amber what is it?" whispered Link. The closet was really cramped with the three of them in there and it wasn't really good for his reputation to be found in a closet with his ex- girlfriend with or without his best friend so he was in a hurry to get out.

"It's Mr. Cannon, he was talking to my mom on the phone last night, and he wants to sabotage the Corny Collin's show!" she said.

"But hold on there why would he do that?" asked Seaweed.

"He's a psycho, worse than my mother he wants to get rid of all the Negros and Tracy…" she quietened off when she said the name Tracy. Link felt his heart start to pound. "What about her!" shouted Link, starting to get really worried.

"He blames her for a lot of it and… and he wants to get revenge." She said and the two boys' faces fell. Outside there was a loud clapping sound and the door swung open and Tammy was standing there. They all jumped back in surprise and she looked at them with an evil eye.

"Congratulations Amber you're not as thick as you make yourself out to be." And she laughed at her sarcastic remark. She had a key swinging in her hand and her hand rested on the door handle.

"Except you forgot one teeny tiny detail but I'd rather not give away the surprise" she said laughing and then she pushed the door closed and locked it. Link tried his best to open the door twisting and pulling the handle.

"Let us out!" they all shouted at the top of their lungs and they banged the door and walls frantically.

"TRACY! TRACY!" yelled Link he was scared out of his wits what they would do to her. After Seaweed and Link made a few attempts at pushing down the door Seaweed sat down in exhaustion but Link wouldn't give up. He continued, his wrists were aching but he kept thumping at the door.

"Link, give up it's not going to budge." Said Seaweed

This wasn't happening he needed to get to her, warn her and save her.

Link kicked the door really hard before falling on the ground and putting his head in his hands, "Amber did they mention what they were going to do?" he said calmly even though he was about to loose his nerve.

"No, Link I'm sorry I didn't hear anything." She said truly sorry.

"Look dude, I'm sure she'll be fine. You know what Tracy's like, a true fighter."

Link kicked the door in anger again. He had kicked it so hard he nearly thought the hinges would come off but it stood tall and stiff barely moving at all. The dark closet only had one light bulb hanging from the ceiling and the walls were painted black and it was stuffed full or brushes, mops and cleaning products. Link stared up at the ceiling, they needed to think of a way out a pity there were no…

"Wait a minute? Is that a vent?" he said even though he knew it was crazy but he was really desperate.

"Cracker boy are you crazy? You watch way too many movies!" shouted Seaweed.

"Well what else can we do Seaweed!" he yelled, "Tracy is in huge trouble, who knows what they'll do to her I love her too much to let her get hurt in anyway at all." He calmed down a bit and Amber and Seaweed gazed at him completely shocked at his outburst, he was shaking and breathing quite heavily.

"Well what are you waiting for, move!" shouted Amber starting to grasp the seriousness of this situation and the two boys jumped onto their feet.

Link grabbed a brush, "Stand back!" he shouted and then started to push the vent grate in, finally after one huge push the thing fell down. Link pulled himself up through the small hole with all his might. His hands were cut from the sharp edges of the side of the vent opening and he'd only managed to squeeze through it. He grabbed Amber's arms and pulled her up through with Seaweed at the bottom pushing her up. She let out a couple of screams but after a struggle she got up safely.

"Okay Seaweed you just… how the heck did you get up so fast!" said Link shocked.

"Aw stop your blabbering Cracker boy and get moving!" he shouted and the noise echoed around the vents. It was very small and cramped there was a lack of oxygen and they were starting to feel it, they were practically crawling on their stomachs as that was how much room there was.

"Link I don't feel so good" whimpered Amber and she lay down for a minute but Seaweed pushed her up again and they continued to crawl. Link's head was spinning; they needed to get out fast as he was scared the thing would collapse at any minute. Then finally there was a small opening, Link could feel sharp pains going up and down his back and he was starting to fell really claustrophobic. Then once he had reached the opening he kicked the grate of it and jumped through it scraping his back on the way down and it stung like crazy. He caught Amber once she jumped through and Seaweed got out surprisingly fast again. They didn't have a clue where they were, all they was they were in some of the offices. Link opened the door and ran out, he saw there were about 5 police officers in the building and one of them had…

"Tracy!" yelled Link and he sprinted over to her.

"Link what are you doing … are you crazy?" she said really shocked but she looked very frightened.

"Miss Tracy Turnblad you are under arrest." said the police officer. Tracy looked panic stricken and started to struggle away from the officer but his grip was too strong and he tightly squeezed her arm. His grip tightened when Link walked closer to him and Tracy yelped out in pain.

"Hey man back off, she didn't do anything wrong!" he shouted at him.

"Excuse me sir, could you back away please before I arrest you too." And with that the officer yanked Tracy's hair very hard and she screamed out in pain.

Link completely lost it, he was really hurting Tracy. Tracy tried to pull away and he yanked her hair so hard that some of it fell out into his hand, she screamed out and her eyes watered as she stared up at Link. Link couldn't take it any longer so he punched him right in the face and the officer fell back.

"Run!" he yelled to Tracy and he grabbed her hand and pulled her with him. He knew it would be too obvious to take his car so he ran on down the road towards Seaweed's place. Tracy was starting to slow up and starting to run out of breath. His legs were aching and he was losing his breath but they needed to go just a bit farther. He could see how much pain she was in but they needed to keep going.

"Come on baby, we're nearly there." He said encouragingly and finally they reached Seaweed's house. He threw open the door and Maybelle came running over to them,

"What happened?" she said looking really worried and then Tracy burst into tears. Maybelle rushed Tracy off into her bedroom. Link felt relieved at least she was safe, for now.

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Link had been sitting in Maybelle's living room for over an hour now. Tracy and Maybelle still hadn't appeared out yet. At least the sobbing had stopped at that point he nearly wanted to plug his ear because he hated to hear her cry. The thing he wanted the most was to see happy Tracy who always had that smile for him but he knew it was selfish of him to think like that at a moment like this. Suddenly Seaweed burst in the door with Penny. "Link!" he shouted and he ran over and hugged him.

Shaking off his wimpiest moment Seaweed went back to cool dude mode.

"Where's Tracy?" said Penny frightened that her friend was hurt and Seaweed had his arm wrapped around her. Link felt a stab of jealousy; he wanted that with Tracy again.

"Don't worry she's in with …" but he was interrupted when Maybelle walked out of her bedroom, Link really wanted to see Tracy but he understood if she didn't want to see him.

"Tracy wants to see Penny," Maybelle said, Link felt his heart sink as Penny was about to walk into the room, "But I think Link should see her, from what I hear this has gone on far too long." She smiled at Link and he smiled back.

"Penny is that you?" whimpered Tracy as Link pushed the door open. Tracy was sitting on the bed facing the other side of the wall. She had a white cotton blanket wrapped around her but he could still see her beautiful yellow dress poking out from under it and her dark brown hair was still sitting perfectly.

"Trace." Link said quietly. Tracy jumped around to face him surprised that he was standing there. Her face was pale and she was shivering.

"I thought you would have left ages ago." She said tearfully and she avoided looking into his eyes. He walked over to the bed and sat down on it beside her. He held her hand but she slipped it away from his reach which made him feel really rejected. She stiffened up a bit and stared at her feet.

"Link, why do you keep doing this? It doesn't make any sense." Why couldn't she just understand that he wanted to be with her, that he loved her?

"Do you want to know why?" he said slightly frustrated that she wouldn't just look at him and she nodded still with her focus on her feet. He took a deep breath and continued, "Tracy, I love you, ever since the day I kissed you I knew you were the one."

She looked up at him in disbelief, at least she was listening to him.

"But you can't… all the things I said and ..." She muttered avoiding his stare.

"Tracy babe, why don't you just believe me?" he said and he placed his hand on her chin and titled her head so her eyes were looking directly into his and she didn't pull away. They stared into each other eyes, soft brown meeting crystal blue.

"I love you." He whispered and kissed her. The past few days had been torture not to be able to hold her or kiss her. Her lips were so soft and he wanted to stay like this forever. It was the kiss that made everything better, that changed everything for the good. The kiss he'd waited for. She started to shiver again and he re-wrapped the blanket around her and he wrapped his arms round her. They sat there silent just embracing each other.

"Link?" she whispered.

"Yeah lil' darlin." He replied stroking her hair.

"Mr. Cannon called me into his office when you and Seaweed were off with Amber."

Link sat up straight, "Trace what did he do to you?"

Tracy remembered exactly what happened and started to tell him.

_Tracy sat down nervously on the chair, Mr. Cannon had never talked to her before except that one time when she was with Link but that would hardly count as a conversation more like a telling off. Mr. Cannon sat down on his huge chair beside his desk and gestured for Tracy to sit on the chair on the other side. He was about to speak when she heard a huge banging noise, she was convinced that she had heard someone yelling her name, she stood up to look but Mr. Cannon stood up_

"_Tracy please stay in your seat." And she sat back down._

"_Well what do you have to say for yourself?" he shouted and he had remained standing._

"_Wh…what?" was all she could manage to say not having a clue what he was on about._

"_You know exactly talking bout!" he yelled and Tracy nearly jumped down in her seat._

"_You ruined the good name of Baltimore, betrayed all white people and destroyed national television. You just some chubby little girl, you're nothing special, yet you caused all this damage!" and he slammed his hand down on the desk._

_Tracy screamed and he pulled her off the seat, "Don't you dare make a peep!" he shouted. Tracy was scared out of her wits scared of what this man was capable of. She couldn't speak; she couldn't believe what she was hearing. It was like Mr. Cannon was a worse version of Amber's mother._

"_Don't worry girl, you'll not be here for long, the police are on their way._

_Tracy stood up, "I'll tell them everything, what you've done!" she shouted. He smacked her across the face and she fell back onto the chair._

"_Don't even try it!" he yelled, "anyway not that they'll listen to you, I called them ten minutes ago about how you and the Negro kids attacked some of our white councillors." And he laughed manically. There was a loud banging noise, which sounded like it was coming from the vents. _

"_No!" she yelled and pushed past him and ran out of the room. She stopped still when she noticed everyone was looking at her and a tall hefty officer walked over to her. Then she saw Link run towards her…_

Link sat there, unable to speak or move just staring at her, his arms were still wrapped but they were stiff. He was finding it hard to breath, the whole time he'd been in that stupid cupboard, Tracy was facing that monster. She was staring into his eyes and he took a breath to speak when suddenly Seaweed burst into the room.

"Link! Tracy! Come here quickly you've got to see this!"


	7. Chapter 7

Tracy couldn't believe her ears. No, no this couldn't be happening. All the teenagers and Maybelle were standing in front of the small television listening to what the newsreader was saying,

"It has been reported that the Negros in the Corny Collin's show have been trying to blow up the WYTZ station and Tracy Turnblad had been their ring leader. The girl went missing several hours ago; she was last seen viciously beating a police officer with a tall, skinny boy."

Everyone stood still with their mouths hanging open. They really were in a big mess. Tracy felt her stomach tighten and she couldn't move. Then she started to panic.

"That's not true, Mr. Cannon he did all this" shouted Tracy, and just when she said his name, Mr. Cannon appeared on the screen with Tammy and a woman.

"Mr. Cannon the station manager and his family are devastated at all this."

"Tammy is his daughter!" Seaweed said in shock but Tracy couldn't move her eyes from the screen. "Tracy Turnblad was always a suspicious girl, always wondering off with the Negros so it was no surprise when we found this out but who knew one girl could cause all this damage?" said Mr. Cannon in his interview.

Tracy remembered him saying those exact words to her.

"There is now a massive manhunt for the teenager." The reporter said and the subject changed. Tracy sat down everyone crowded round her and she couldn't think straight she needed space. Just like Link had read her mind he spoke up,

"Hey give the girl a bit of room." And he smiled at her.

She couldn't take in what was happening, it was all happening too fast. She needed a second to think, to clear her head and figure out what to do. The old Tracy would have never got herself into a mess like this; she was strong and always knew what to do next. She didn't like this new Tracy, she was insecure and weak. It was time to get the old Tracy back. Link was smiling at her, she'd been a fool to ever give him up. Link had stood by Tracy the whole time even when she was avoiding him. Why hadn't she believed him from the start, she should have knew Tammy was up to something it was all to convenient how it had worked out for her, deep down she knew Link wasn't like that but the rumours and her doubts, they all took over her. Though there he was smiling at her, just looking at her, she smiled brightly back at him, she felt the confidence rush back into her. It was time Mr. Cannon got what he deserved.

Tracy stood up off the couch. Link watched in awe as Tracy's confidence filled her face again. He'd nearly been blown back by the return of it and then she gave him that killer smile. The smile that had won him over. She looked like she was glowing and her eyes were sparkling like diamonds. Then that smile, that perfect smile, it made everything better. The room seemed brighter, the world seemed like a better place and all because she smiled, at him. He'd felt like a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders just because of Tracy. Pushing her hair back out of her face she walked into the centre of everyone. They all glared at her in amazement at how…happy she looked. Link jumped up onto his feet and Tracy began to speak

"Okay, Velma didn't get away with trying to ruin our lives so why should we let Mr. Cannon. I'm not going to stand for it any longer. So we're going to go down to the station and stand up to him!" she said confidently and then everyone in the room burst into cheers. Tracy smiled brightly and did the "Link wink" at Link he actually felt his knees wobble. Once Tracy stopped talking everyone rushed around getting ready to get going. Tracy walked over to Link and she hugged him, and it felt good to be loved again. He held her in his arms not ever wanting to let go. Everyone was bustling about, but Link just ignored it all as Tracy leant her head on his shoulder and he kissed her forehead. He felt a small tap on his shoulder,

"Dude we better get going…" Seaweed said looking sorry for breaking him and Tracy apart but Link knew they had to get going.

Tracy held his hand tightly and they headed out the door. There was a horrible twisted feeling in his stomach and deep down inside he couldn't help thinking what if something bad happened. No, he had to clear that thought out of his head. He was here now, protecting Tracy he'd let nothing harm her now. Especially Cannon. Remembering Tracy tell him that story, it made him feel sick. He knew Cannon was a jerk but that was just too far, what type of man hits a girl, especially Tracy who is the sweetest girl in the world.

"You coming Link?" she said looking a bit worried, she had obviously been thinking about the last time when she had organised the protest. He still felt terrible about that but this time he was going to be their beside her, holding her hand, protecting her.

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Link couldn't believe his eyes, I mean there were hundreds of people of every shape, size and colour standing outside the studio protesting what they thought was right. This was a disaster, how were they going to get it without being recognised at all? He turned round to talk to Penny and Tracy,

"Trace, babe I'm sorry to say but how are we ever going …… wow." He looked at her astounded. She was wearing a dark auburn wig which came down to her shoulders, also she was wearing dark shaded glasses which covered her big beautiful brown eyes and had applied a dark shade of red lipstick to her lips. There was something about it all, she just looked so, hot. He knew he was staring but he couldn't help it.

"Miss Penelope Peterson." She said flirtingly, pulling down the glasses, batting her eyelashes and held out her hand.

Link grasped onto it "Well Miss Penelope, I hope we can get to know each other a lot better" he said teasingly, gave her his signature wink and kissed her hand gently. She giggled and said,

"Emm, Link you're not exactly disguised." She said and pushed her dark shades over her eyes again.

"Don't worry I've got him all sorted" said Penny giggling and she threw a bag full of stuff at him. He didn't like the way she was laughing with Seaweed…

Link pulled at the ridiculous wig he was wearing. It was brown and fluffy, didn't have any shape what so ever and was itching him like crazy, the nerdy glasses he was wearing kept slipping down his nose and the woollen jumper he was wearing was far too tight. The only good thing about it all was he had been allowed to wear the same trousers and shoes. They were sneaking past the crowds and no one had seemed to recognise Tracy and Link, then one small little girl tugged at her mummy's jacket and said excitedly,

"Look mummy it's Link and Tracy!" The mother turned around swiftly, she didn't look much older than Link and Tracy and she was chewing her chewing gum quite loudly.

"Courtney don't be silly that's not Link and Tracy it's just some geek and a fat girl" she whispered spitefully and glared at the two of them and then turned back round and started protesting again. The little girl narrowed her eyes and stuck her tongue out at Link. Link felt really angry, so this is what it was like to be treated like you were different. How did Tracy put up with it?

"Like mother like daughter." Scowled Penny and Tracy giggled.

Penny and Seaweed walked on forward and Link and Tracy followed behind. They had got some funny stares and Link was starting to feel quite self conscious.

"Emm Trace," he whispered and she looked up at him and smiled contently,

"Why do you let people talk to you like that?" he said and her smile faded and she sighed loudly.

"Lin... I mean John," she said quickly as she noticed there were a couple of people in earshot, "Some people are just ignorant, they don't look for the person on the inside, the just judge what they look like on the outside." Link smiled at her, she was so brave. There was a strong wind and the trees were swaying back and forth. A small strand of Tracy's brown hair fell onto her face and before she could push it back Link said sweetly "Here babe." and tucked it back into her wig. She smiled brightly up at him and he felt his heart flip, they stood there for a moment gazing into each to hers eyes. Seaweed thumped Link's arm impatiently to get him to come back to planet earth.

"Ahh!" groaned Link.

"Will you stop your whinging Cracker boy and get a move on; you can stare into Trac… Penelope's eyes later." He scolded, Seaweed and Penny started to laugh and Tracy giggled a bit. Link pushed her slightly,

"Your supposed to be on my side!" he said pretending to huff. She gave him a sympathetic smile.

"Oh come on Mr. Sensitive." She said laughing and linked hands with him. When they got to the back door of the studio after pushing through all the crowds Link pulled the handle down but it was locked. Seaweed pushed past him and took the knife out of his back pocket and started to fidget about with the lock. Then with one satisfying click, the door opened like magic.

Link looked at Seaweed strangely "I'm not even going to ask were you got that or were you learnt to do that." The tow girls burst into fits of laughter and then the tow boys joined in.

"Wait a minute, what's the plan again?" said Penny looking completely clueless and she popped another lolly in her mouth. Tracy and Link sighed loudly, it must have been the fifth time Penny had asked them but Seaweed just chuckled and said,

"Baby it's simple, you and me are going to be watching out for any funny business while beauty and the geek here are going to be looking for some evidence against Mr. Cannon."

"Hey!" yelled Link and he checked his reflection again and tried his best to make himself look a bit less geeky and wimp but it didn't work.

"I still think you look cute, however dorky you look." Grinned Tracy cheekily.

"Well it's good to know … what do you mean by dorky." He said trying to sound offended but he just laughed instead.

"Okay can we go in here sometime today?" said Seaweed started to get impatient on having to wait on Tracy and Link flirting, so the four teenagers ran into the studio.

Tammy paced up and down her father's office. What was she doing? Why had she got herself into the mess? Yes, maybe it would help her career to get rid of some of the competition but to be honest she wasn't the greatest dancer. She never had anything against Tracy, maybe she was a tiny bit jealous that she was going out with the school heartthrob but it wasn't as if he was interested in her in the first place. The only reason she was in all this was because of her manipulative father, he'd turned her into some sort of monster. First that note, then kissing Link and the worst of all was blackmailing Corny about him getting Brenda pregnant. Brenda was her friend and she had trusted her with that secret but Tammy had just wanted to please her father so much. He had always looked down on her, even when she was little. Nothing was ever good enough for him. So now Corny was practically in hiding praying that she wouldn't say anything, it would cost him his career. He'd agree to stay out of the way as long as Tammy didn't say anything. It made her feel sick. It was all spiralling out of control and her father was on some sort of rampage. This needs to stop now, before it's too late. She needs to find her father, fast.


	8. Chapter 8

Tracy and Link were keeping there heads down hoping no one would notice them. The seats which were used for the audience for the Miss Hairspray pageant were now filling up with reporters and there was a huge podium where Mr. Cannon was obviously going to make his "speech". Link and Tracy couldn't hold hands because they didn't want to cause any suspicion but that was all that Link was longing to do. The studio seemed dark and cold, there was none of the usual music playing and no chitter chatter or high pitched squealing from teenagers, just the noisy talking of the reporters as they were taking their seats. There were flashes from cameras everywhere and Link's eyes were starting to feel sore. Then disaster struck, all the white councillors from the Corny Collin's show were coming towards them. Tracy and Link looked at each other worriedly and stood still. Luckily enough none of them noticed Link, though Brad and Fender had even nudged and pushed Link as they walked by him laughing. Brad and Fender were so shallow, if only they knew it was Link, he would love to see their faces. Then all of a sudden Amber stopped dead and stared at the two of them and let everyone else walk on.

"Link?" she mouthed at him and he gave her his trademark wink to show it was him.

"Tracy?" she mouthed at her and Tracy nodded and smiled.

Amber stared at the two of them dumb struck, she couldn't believe what they looked like.

"What are you doing here? You could get arrested!" she whispered.

Link stared hard into her eyes, had Amber really changed? He couldn't tell did she have an alternative motive for being nice to him or had she actually changed. He couldn't read Amber, he never could. She always had these constant mood swings but she never ever seemed to be in a good mood. The last couple of months before they had spilt up had been agonising. He lied to her, lied to himself that he actually did like her. It was complete selfishness but on the other hand Amber did take complete advantage of his popularity but that's not to say that he didn't take advantage of her mother's position and what she could do for his career. Tracy was different, she hardly ever said a bad word about anyone and he didn't need to lie to himself, he was in love with her.

"We are here to reveal Mr. Can……" Tracy abruptly finished her sentence when she saw that Mr. Cannon was heading straight for them.

"Who are these things!" he yelled at Amber and looked at them like they were scum. He eyed them up suspiciously but turned and glared at Amber. Tracy nudged Link hard in the ribs to get him to speak up; he nearly jumped because she did it really hard.

"Emm we are here to do research on the history of the, eh studio em Sir." His voice went really high and squeaky when he said it. Mr. Cannon gave him a funny look and stomped off. Tracy and Amber burst into fits of laughter.

"What?" Link said innocently looking around to see what they were laughing at.

"I know you're supposed to be disguised and everything, but you really did go overboard with the whole geek thing" said Amber and the two girls started to laugh again. Link stared down at his feet, feeling completely embarrassed.

Tracy reached up and gave Link a peck on the cheek.

"Oh Linkie don't be like that," she sighed, "now come on we've got some researching to do." She said sweetly holding his hand and they walked down to the offices. Little did they know that Mr. Cannon had been keeping a close eye on them.

Edna paced up and down the room frantically and Wilbur stood up off the old sofa and put his arms around her.

"Wilbur, what are we going to do? For all we know our daughter could have been thrown into a wood and is now trying to fight off man-eating bears!" panicked Edna.

Wilbur chuckled at his wife's over reaction though he quickly stopped whenever she glared at him.

"Babe, everything is going to be alright, Tracy is a big girl now and Link is with her, I hope." He muttered the last two words under his breath. He trusted Link but after what happened the last time he was half expecting for him to turn up knocking at their door, looking for Tracy. Personally he did like the kid but this was their Tracy he was with and he didn't want to see her get hurt. He reassured Edna but doubts were seeping into his mind, he pushed them away. Tracy is a big girl he told himself but the scene of her when she was five years old kept coming back into his mind.

"_Daddy! Daddy!" wailed Tracy as she ran into the house dripping wet. Her little pigtails were just about hanging in there but he noticed the hair bobbles had been pulled down. She ran up into her fathers arms and hugged him tightly and sobbed. Wilbur kissed her head and said gently,_

"_What happened honey?"_

"_These big boys," she sniffed, "They threw water at me and pulled my hair because they said I looked different, they called me fat and ugly." Wilbur held his little girl tightly in his arms. No child as sweet as Tracy deserved this sort of punishment but there was nothing he could do except be there for her. Edna had been away for a couple of days on a dancing trip. Tracy sobbed and Wilbur dried her small eyes. He felt a new sort of protection over her, he'd never let any boy treat her like this again. _

Wilbur snapped back to reality when he heard the phone ring. He was about to pick it up when Edna pushed past him.

"TRACY!" yelled Edna down the phone without out even considering it was anyone else.

"No, Mrs Turnblad its Penny"

"Is Tracy there? Is she okay? Was there any bears?" she shouted and Wilbur chuckled again.

"Okay emm, Tracy isn't here but she told me to call you and say there's no need to worry and that she'll be home soon and there's no bears." said Penny calmly and Edna heard some laughing in the background when Penny mentioned the bears.

"Oh Mrs Turnblad I have to go but don't worry about Tracy she is fine" said Penny.

"But what about…" Edna stopped talking when she heard that the line was dead. She sighed loudly, "I think I'm going to make some pork." And she wandered to the kitchen. That conversation had settled her nerves, a little…

"Link, I'm not too sure about this." said Tracy worriedly as they crept into Mr Cannon's office.

"Don't worry Trace, I'm here so you'll be safe." said Link and the thought of Mr Cannon hitting Tracy replayed in his mind. The office was cold and the walls were painted grey and they looked very bare and there were only a couple of chairs, a table and a tall filing cabinet in the corner the only bright thing was a big glass vase and a small bunch of yellow flowers were sitting on his desk.. Not much of an office. He saw the grate lying on the ground which he had kicked down earlier from the vent. Link and Tracy searched through drawers in the table but they were empty. That hopefully meant he evidence they were looking for was in the tall grey cabinet. Link tried pulling the shelves of it open but they were all locked tight.

"Where's Seaweed when you need him." said Link hoping that he would appear but nothing of the sort happened. He looked at Tracy hoping that she might know what to do but she just stared up at him with those big brown eyes, looking as clueless as he felt.

"Wait a minute." said Tracy and she got onto her hands and feet and crawled to the back of the cabinet.

"Trace?" Link said curiously. Tracy stood up holding a small yellow folder. Link looked at her, she was staring straight back at him waiting to see what the folder held. She handed it to him and he opened it up and there was a letter at the very front of it. He began to read it.

_Dear Mark,_

_Thing are going to have to change! I am fed up with this whole "integration" phase, it has got to end now. I know we discussed this all on the phone but I'd like to get it in writing for you so here's the plane._

_Split up the dancers- I mean Negros on one side and whites on the other and I want the camera to focus mostly on the right race._

_Get your daughter to split up Link and Tracy._

_Get Tracy arrested- though if this doesn't work at first start a media frenzy that ought to get thing worked up a little._

_Kill Tracy Turnblad- first of all…_

Link froze up, he didn't even want to read the rest of it. He dropped the letter and the folder on the ground. Photo's of Tracy and him scattered across the ground and different files.

"Link you're scaring me, what's going on." she said starting to sound frightened. She picked up the letter, he couldn't even find the power inside himself to stop her. He watched her eyes scan across the writing on the page and then they stopped dead at that last sentence. She didn't move, just stood still staring at the page. Then one small tear fell onto the page. Link griped her tightly in his arms. He felt this new sort of protection for her overcome him. He was there to protect her. Her warm tears fell onto his arm.

"Tracy." He said quietly and she looked up into his eyes, her big brown eyes looked very watery. The warmth he usually saw in them was covered by fear.

"I swear to you, nothing will ever hurt you. I won't let it. If anything ever happened to you I don't think I could live with myself. She smiled at him weakly and she played with his little black curl that had fallen out of him wig. He leaned into kiss her when he heard the door slam shut.

"So I see you found the folder Larkin." said a cold sly voice.

Tracy and Link jumped back in fright. Link stood boldly in front of Tracy and tried to push her behind him but she stood beside him strongly and held his hand tightly.

"How thick do you think I am not to realise that you were the infamous Link Larkin and Tracy Turnblad." And he laughed sarcastically maybe even drunkenly. He felt Tracy's grip tighten round his hand. Then Mr Cannon dug deep into his pocket and he pulled out a small silver gun. Tracy yanked Link's arm back and he nearly fell on top of her. She was shaking but Link stood tall trying to push out the fear inside him. He needed to be brave. The door handle was pulled down and pushed open slowly. Link prayed, prayed that it was Seaweed, Penny, the police, anybody who could help them. Though to his complete disappointment Tammy walked in cowardly.

"Take the wigs and glasses off." said Mr Cannon pointing the gun at them. Link pulled the brown scruffy wig off and his hands were trembling. He looked into Tammy's eyes pleadingly but she stared at the ground trying not to make any eye contact with him. Mr Cannon lifted the gun up and aimed it right to the middle of Link's forehead but then put it down by his side.

"Actually I'd rather Larkin you suffered, also there's no point wasting your talent."

"NO!" yelled Link standing in front of her.

"Well if you are going to make it awkward Larkin, I might just have to kill you too, any last words?"

He waited for a moment for Link to speak and looked coldly at him.

"None, okay then goodbye."

Link shut his eyes not letting go of Tracy's hand. This was it. Link heard the trigger being pulled. Suddenly there was a huge bang and smash.

_Hey all thanks for all the reveiws. I know I'ts been taking me ages to update recently but it's been really hard with school and all. I've already started chapter 9 so it should be up soon enough. Please please keep reveiwing xxx _


	9. Chapter 9

Link opened his eyes. He was alive! He spun around almost on instinct and there was Tracy standing there too behind him looking stunned. He saw Tammy crouching up in the corner shaking and rocking herself back and forth. He hadn't let go of Tracy's hand the whole time. Lying across the ground was Mr Cannon and there was glass spread out around of him. Tammy had saved their lives, she had smashed a vase on his head and he had been knocked out. The door suddenly burst open and standing there was Seaweed, Penny and the police. There had been some reporters but the police had chased them off. They most of all heard the bang. Link couldn't cope with any of this at the moment. He felt Tracy's grip loosen and her hand slip away from his and she sat down on the ground. He kneeled down beside her and kissed her fore head. Her hair was all ruffled from being underneath the wig and she looked very pale. She tried to push herself back up again but struggled.

Link said quietly "Babe, don't move you're not fit for it."

"I don't deserve you" she said, tears rolling down her soft cheeks.

"No, you deserve better." He said and before she could argue back he silenced her with a kiss. There was a loud siren and paramedics came rushing in and were all over Tammy and Mr Cannon. They helped Tammy up and walked her slowly out. They lay Mr Cannon on a stretcher and lifted him out of the room. It was all starting to become a bit of a blur. He started to feel quite light-headed and hot. He saw Penny rush over to Tracy's side and wrap her arms around her. Someone placed their hand on his shoulder and directed him to a seat. It was Seaweed.

"Seaweed, pick up that letter and show it to the police" Link said pointing at the letter lying on the ground. Seaweed looked at him strangely but the police were rushing out and a couple of them were questioning Seaweed and Penny. Link stretched his arm out to hold Tracy's hand but just at that moment Edna and Wilbur came rushing in. Link smiled, Tracy was so lucky to have them as parents. He wished someone had come rushing in to check that he was okay. He started at the door longingly, maybe in some type of miracle his father would have wised up at his disappearance. Though to tell you the truth his father likely didn't even notice he was gone, maybe that he would as he would have no one to shout at. Even though Tracy was getting fussed over by her mother who was asking her about 15 million questions, Tracy watched Link the whole time, not taking her eyes off him at any point. He knew now that he did have someone who cared about him, who would come rushing to check if he was alright.

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Tracy watched the clock eagerly, she had only been in bed for a couple of hours but she couldn't sleep at all. Every time she closed her eyes all she could see was Link's face smiling at her and when she opened them all she could see was his pictures stuck around her room staring at her. There was no doubt about it, she wouldn't be able to get him out of her head. It was driving her insane, she needed to see him, hold him, and talk to him. Everything had been so rushed; her mother and father had got her out of that place so quickly she hadn't even got to talk to him at all. She didn't even know what happened to him though she kind of guessed that he had got home with Seaweed. She remembered the way he looked at her when she left, it was heartbreaking, the longing in his eyes. She couldn't help wondering why his mother and father hadn't turned up for him. Though she never had met them before, for all she knew they were probably just out of town and something. The clock only had mover two minutes, this was driving her crazy she needed to get up. She got out of her bed quietly and wrapped her dressing gown around her and walked out to the living room. Everyone was sleeping and it was pitch black the light of the stars and moon shone brightly. She suddenly had a craving for some fresh air, so she turned on a small light on in her hall and opened her door.

"AHH…………" her scream stopped because the person standing outside her door put their hand over her mouth. Just in an instance she recognised them.

"Link!?" she whispered loudly once he removed his hand from her mouth, his hair was shapeless and all fluffy as he had sprayed about two cans of ultra clutch on his hair.

"What, what are …" She said but was interrupted when he leant down and kissed her deeply.

"I think you're meant to let me finish talking before you kiss me." she said giggling as she broke away from him but he kept his arms wrapped around her waist. They stood there at her door completely silent.

"Aren't you going to speak?" she asked him as he still hadn't said anything.

"Yes eventually as long as you let me kiss you again." He said teasingly and kissed her again.

They broke away and his blue crystal eyes were sparkling and he held her tighter.

"Well." She said still waiting for him to talk.

"I'm here because, actually I really don't know why. I couldn't stop thinking about you so I decided to get some air and I ended up here." he said, "where were you going to?"

Tracy giggled, "Well I couldn't stop thinking about you and I wanted to get some air. I probably would have ended up at your front door. Though you did give me one fright." She said and smiled at him contently. He grinned at her and then they heard a grunting noise from Tracy's parent's room.

"Come on before we wake up Ma and Dad." She said and led him outside and closed the door behind them. They walked around to the back of her house and sat on the bench which was beside the washing lines. The stars were twinkling brightly in the sky and there were even some shooting stars in the sky.

"Wow look at that" said Tracy staring up at the sky, she suddenly started to feel cold and shivered a bit.

"Aw lil darlin' you're cold." and he was about to give her his jacket when she stopped him.

"I know something that will keep me warmer." she said cheekily and snuggled up into him. He wrapped his arms around her and played with loose strands of her hair. They stayed silent, watching the stars and embracing each other.

"I was so afraid," she finally said, "afraid that I'd loose you. When Mr. Cannon pulled out the gun and said all that to you. Words can't describe it Link." And she waited for his response.

"Tracy?" he said quietly.

"Yes." She replied

"I, I don't know how to say this." He took a deep breath and continued.

"I love you Tracy. Love you more than anything, more than anyone in this whole world. When I read that letter, I felt my whole world crash and burn. Then when Mr. Cannon pulled out the gun, I didn't know what to do. I didn't want anything to happen to you." He fell silent and stared up to the sky.

"I love you Link Larkin." She said smiling. It had been the first time she had said it to him properly and she really truly did mean it. He stared at her and his face broke into a smile and she giggled at him.

He kissed her softly on the lips and didn't break the contact between their foreheads.

"Never leave me." She whispered completely serious, she knew deep down she wouldn't be able to cope without him.

"I promise I never will." He replied and kissed her again.

She knew she could get through it all if she had him.

THE END

_Okay this is the end of this story but don't worry there is a sequel coming soon. Thanks everyone for all the reviews, they were great. xxx_


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